Letter: Anthony Birthplace Museum Supports Scenic Rail

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To the Editor:

I understand the Scenic Railway in the Berkshires is nearly complete. Only one mile needs to be laid in order to access North Adams and the town of Adams. The cost still needed is for the labor, not the materials.

Susan B. Anthony — Massachusetts, Berkshires and our country's greatest heroine — will tell you that the railway represents the movement of suffrage across the United States. I can see Susan getting off and on at small towns and municipalities across America, then into stage coaches to carry her to the assigned town hall, or school board meeting, or quilting bee where she spread the message of women and their right to vote. Because she traveled before photography was popular, Susan wore a red shawl to identify her to the journalists who were there along with the mobs (both in support of and opposed to) to greet her.

Within the next few years, the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, along with other history institutions in the Berkshires and throughout the state, are coordinating One Hundred Events for One Hundred Years. We are celebrating the National Suffrage Centennial, commemorating the Susan B. Anthony (19th) Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.


http://.www.celebratesuffrage.org

This statewide commemoration begins in 2018 and climaxes in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the amendment to enfranchise women. Massachusetts has more native suffragist leaders than in any other state in the country.

The scenic railway will give an added boost not only to tourism for the area during this historical time, but will add to the authentic ambiance of the suffrage era.

Carol Crossed
Crossed is president of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace & Museum in Adams, Mass.

 


Tags: scenic rail,   Susan B. Anthony,   

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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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